The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-06-17
CHAPTER XVIII.
AND AFTER.

In front of the door of 1.-THE Palatial" was
round flower bed filled with weeds and
flowers mixed up together like the good and
evil in the heart of man, and to the right
hand side of this bed stood an old wooden
chair with the back off. No sooner had John
got outside the door of the cottage than he
became sensible that, what between one
thing and another-weariness loss of blood
from his wound, and intense mental emotion
if lie did lot sit down somewhere pretty
quickly he should follow the example set by
jess and faint straight away. Accordingly
he made for the old chair and perched him.
self on it with gratitude Presently he saw
Mrs. Neville coming steaming along the path
with a bottle of brandy in her hand.
"Ah!" he thought to himself, "that will
just come in handy for me. If l don't have a
glass of brandy soon l shall roll off this
Internal chair-1 am sure of it."
"Where is JESSE" painted Mrs. Neville.
an there" he said; "she has recovered. It
would have been better for us both if she
hadn't" he added to himself.
"Why, bless me, Capt. Mel, how queer you
look!' said Mrs. Neville, tanning herself with
her hat" and there is such row going on
at the camp there; the volunteers swear that
they will attack the military for deserving
them, and don't know what all; and they
simply wouldn't believe me when said you
were not shot. Why, never! Look! your
boot is full of blood! So you were hit after
ALL
"Might l trouble you to give me some
brandy. Mrs. Neville!" said John, family.
She filled glass she had brought with her
half full of water from little irrigation
furrow that ran down from the main SLUT by
the road, and then topped it up with brandy.
He drank it, and felt decidedly better.
@Dear me!n said Mrs Neville, 'there are q
pair of you now. You should just have seen
that girl 60 down when she saw the body
coming along the road! l made sure that it
was you; but it wasn't They say that it
was poor Jim Smith, son of old Smith of
Rustenburg. l tell you what it is, Capt.
Mel, you had better be careful; if that girl
isn't in love with you, she is something very
like it. A girl does not pop over like that for
Dick, Tom or Harry. You must forgive an
old woman like me for speaking out plain but
she is an odd girl is Jess, just like ten women
rolled into one so far as her mind goes, and if
you don't take care you will get into trouble
which will be rather awkward, as you al e
going to marry her sister. Jess isn't girl to
have bit Of a tlirt to pass away the time and
have done with it, l can tell you;" and she
shook her head solemnly, as though she sus-
pected him of trifing with his future sister
in laws young affections, and then, without
waiting for an answer, turned and went into
the cottage
As for John, he only groaned. What could
he do but groani The whole thing was self
evident, and if ever q man felt ashamed Of
himself that man was John Mel. He was a
strictly honorable individual, and it cut him
to the heart to think that he had entered
on a course which was not honorable,
considering his engagement to Bessie.
When he. a few minutes before, had
told jess he loved her he had said a
disgraceful thing, however true a thing 1t
might be. And that was the worst of it; it
was true; he did love her. He felt it come
sweeping over him like wave as she stood
there looking at him in the room, utterly
drowning and overpowering his affection for